American Sociopath? - The Talented Mr Ripley

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Daniel Cohen

Professor Pindell

English Narrative 114N

Section 1

American Sociopath?

"Tom glanced behind him and saw the man coming out of the Green Cage, heading his way. Tom walked faster. There was no doubt the man was after him." (3). The novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith, begins by immediately pulling us into the wary and suspicious mind of Tom Ripley. Highsmith plays the Devil and invites us to identify with every twisted compulsion and trivial resentment gyrating inside the head of a madman. In the film, The Talented Mr. Ripley, directed by Anthony Minghella, and based on Highsmith's novel, we are able to view another angle in which we are asked to feel pity for an unfortunate murderer. We consider his desires and motivations. Throughout the novel and the film, Tom takes on many different identities. He is not satisfied with himself, and wants to become someone else. "I would not call him insane, because his actions are rational. I consider him a rather civilized person who kills when he absolutely has to. If there is not much to be admired about him he is also not entirely to